


Small Acts

by HopefulNebula



Category: Jake 2.0
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Vignette, five things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:36:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21840622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopefulNebula/pseuds/HopefulNebula
Summary: Four times Jake saved the day without using nanites, and one time he used every last one of them.
Relationships: Jake Foley/Diane Hughes
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Small Acts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mylittleredgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylittleredgirl/gifts).



**1.**

Jake supposed that one of these days, he'd be able to have a nice, boring vacation. He could spend it lying on the beach, maybe. Drinking fancy drinks out of a coconut shell with a little umbrella in it.

At least this time, the complication in his plans wasn't anybody's fault. And while he could control many things, Jake couldn't do anything about the weather.

("Not yet, anyway," a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Diane's added.)

All right, Ohio was no tropical paradise to begin with, and he hadn't expected his parents' thirtieth anniversary party to be terribly _exciting_ , but he'd still been looking forward to going home and seeing his family.

Just... maybe not in such tight quarters.

A Superball against his shoulder startled Jake out of his thoughts. It caromed up and almost hit the ceiling before Jake could catch it on its way down. He turned around to see his young cousin Sam somehow looking both bored and expectant at the same time. Jake held on to the ball for a second, then gently lobbed it in the right direction. Sam mumbled a quick "thanks" and resumed bouncing it against the basement wall.

Jake, having nothing else to do until the tornado warning let up, sat down on the floor next to him.

"Did you ever do this when you were a kid?" Sam asked. 

"A few times, yeah. We had tornado drills in school too. Bet you don't do that in Los Angeles." Sam bounced the ball again.

"Nah, we have earthquake drills."

Bounce.

Catch.

A thunderclap sounded, near and sudden enough that half the people in the basement jumped.

"You know, I think there's still some of my old Legos in one of these bins," Jake said. "Wanna build something?"

Sam bounced the ball one more time, appraising Jake. Finally he nodded.

"So we should probably start with the blue one."

"The one that has 'Lego' written on it?"

"That's the one."

"The NSA teach you that?"

"Thousands of hours of training. _Thousands_."

Jake reached the bin down. It was fully two hours later before they realized everybody else had gone upstairs long ago.

**2.**

"I thought we fixed it so you had to be actively _trying_ to hear things like that," Diane said. 

"It's not hearing," Jake replied. "It's more like... you know when there's something you've forgotten and you know that you've forgotten it, but no matter what, you can't remember what it is?"

"Yeah."

"It's like that, but physical. And I can't tell when one of his things is gonna fire off."

"Eeeurgh. So can't you just... you know?"

"I would if I could. I went into the neighbor's network the first night. The thing is, it's just so bad that there's no way to fix it without getting noticed. It'd be like breaking into a house to... I don't know, do the laundry."

Diane sighed.

"He just moved in, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, bring him some baked goods and tell him his router keeps... I dunno, printing gibberish to your printer. _Offer_ to fix it."

Jake blinked. He wasn't sure why he hadn't thought about that angle himself. He supposed he should have. But it would work.

" You haven't forgotten how to do tech support, have you?" Diane continued.

"I still remember all the swear words, if that's what you're asking," he replied.

"Good. You can use them while you're on the treadmill."

**3.**

It started with a dripping faucet.

(Well, it actually _started_ with Kyle spending all of his accrued leave in San Juan to deal with a family emergency, and Jake visiting Kyle's condo every few days to water his plants and bring in the mail, but Jake figured there was no need to be quite that pedantic.)

At first Jake thought he'd turned the handle too far. He'd done that before, when he wasn't paying attention to his own strength. This time, though, it felt fine when he tested it.

That was when Jake realized there was another dripping sound, this one from inside the cupboard.

He was no plumber, but his dad had made sure he at least knew how to handle things like this.

It was only a light drip, no water squirting everywhere. That was good. Jake reached around for the shutoff valve, and turned it gently.

The dripping stopped, and Jake smiled. Good. That upgraded the situation from "call Kyle and ask where he keeps a bucket" to "text Kyle and let him respond when he has time."

In the meantime, he had plants to water.

**4.**

Bar Harbor was absolutely stunning. Jake didn't think it was just the fall leaves talking, either. There was just something about the air, and the birds, and the way everything _smelled_. Okay, that last one may have been the perfume Diane was wearing. Jake couldn't really tell. He could see himself retiring here, on the off chance that the NSA would ever let him retire. On top of that, he didn't even have to wear a tuxedo. (There was really something good to be said for the concept of the large-but-informal backyard wedding.)

And now that Diane's bridesmaid duties were almost done for the night, Jake was really starting to relax. He didn't want to admit it, but he'd been worried for her. He hadn't been able to avoid overhearing all the comments that had been directed at Diane all weekend. Every other sentence had been some kind of commentary on her life. Everything from "You know, there are plenty of doctor jobs closer to home" to "so, your plus-one is pretty cute, are you two...?". Even Diane's sister had gotten in on the action, which Jake thought had to take a hell of an effort considering that she was the bride. 

If he was already exhausted just thinking about all that, Jake could only imagine what it must be like for Diane.

The DJ (okay, the bride's coworker Mark, who'd donated his services as a wedding gift) pulled out a new record and started fiddling with it to find the next track.

"You realize if he plays the Chicken Dance there's nothing I can do about it, right?" Jake asked. "Not with the vinyl."

"Hey, you could always blow out the speakers," Diane replied. "But it won't be an issue. Dad snuck in to the storage chest while Mark was in the bathroom and 'borrowed' that record for the day."

"I knew I liked him."

The new song finally started. Jake didn't quite recognize it, but it was something slow and romantic. His first instinct was to ask Diane if she knew it, but then he saw her face.

"Diane?"

No response.

"Diane? Earth to Diane?"

"Oh! Sorry. I just... I used to really like this song, you know? And now it just reminds me how everybody else has somebody, and I don't feel like I'm enough, and God, Mom is looking at us, why is she looking at us?" 

Jake couldn't really see her, not without turning around and probably knocking over several plates, but he could believe it.

The music swelled, but the noise of the crowd only seemed to get quieter. Before he could talk himself out of it, Jake leaned toward Diane.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

"Of course! Why are you asking?"

"You want to give them something to talk about? I mean, instead of letting them just speculate?"

Diane nodded.

"Get up. We're dancing."

It took Diane a second to process Jake's intent, but when she did she gave him a wicked smile. "Why, Mr. Foley, I thought you'd never ask."

"Still less drama than the last wedding we went to," he commented once they were up.

**1.**

They had no idea what was happening. No way of telling yet, either. Whatever had happened, it was huge, and it had taken out all of SatOps' ability to communicate with the outside world. It would be easier if he could just get out of the room, but Lou had ordered everyone to stay in place for the time being. 

"Jake, what have you got?" she asked.

"No idea yet. It's... it's quiet out there. I've been working on the computers in here, but it feels like something's blocking them from the outside."

"What about the cell towers? Can you get messages outside?"

Jake shook his head. "No, I've got noth- wait a minute."

"Jake?"

"If I amplify the signal through our own infrastructure, I think I can reach the towers outside. But just barely."

"Can you use that to grant us network access?"

Jake paused. He'd quarantined massive viruses before, but this wasn't that. It felt different. Bigger. If Diane were here instead of in the lab, he was certain she'd be cautioning him against it, for fear of burning himself out.

On the other hand, he had the chance to become the world's first organic router.

Jake nodded.

"All right," Lou said, "let's do this."

Jake took a breath, closed his eyes, and got to work.


End file.
